Balasore, Bhubaneswar : In a highly unusual wildlife discovery, forest department officials rescued five young orangutans from a casuarina forest in Odisha’s Balasore district on Tuesday. Because these great apes are not native to India, their sudden appearance has triggered strong suspicions of an international wildlife smuggling operation.
The young primates were spotted by local residents near Badapahi village in the Bhograi area, prompting an immediate response from a forest patrol team. According to officials, the group comprises three males and two females, all estimated to be between six months and one year old.
Balasore Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Indalkar Pratik Prakash stated that the young apes were physically small and struggling to walk, though they remained alert and active. “They were fed and safely brought to the section office after being rescued,” he said, adding that authorities believe the animals were abandoned in the forest either late Monday evening or early Tuesday morning.
Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) Prakash Chand Gogineni indicated that the incident points toward an illicit wildlife trafficking attempt that likely went awry. Orangutans are critically endangered primates whose natural habitats are confined exclusively to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra in Southeast Asia—roughly 4,000 kilometres away from the eastern Indian coast.
Forest enforcement teams are currently investigating how the exotic animals reached the state, focusing primarily on potential illegal coastal entry routes used by smuggling syndicates. Alerts have been issued to coastal monitoring teams to track down any suspicious activity.
Following their rescue, all five orangutans were transferred to the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar for detailed medical examinations. Veterinary officials confirmed that the animals had no visible injury marks on their bodies. They are currently being kept under strict quarantine and constant observation. Meanwhile, the state government has initiated a deeper probe to uncover the international smuggling network responsible for transporting these endangered apes across borders.